Open a Pro Tools session without Pro Tools
A studio sends you a session folder, but you mix in REAPER or Logic Pro, edit picture in Premiere
Pro or DaVinci Resolve, or your Pro Tools subscription has run out. The .ptx file is not readable
outside Pro Tools, and rebuilding the session by hand from the Audio Files folder means guessing
where every clip went. This tool reads the session file itself and gives you the edit in formats
other programs open: every track, every clip at its exact sample position with its offset into the
audio file, fades and crossfades, clip groups, markers and the tempo map.
What to upload
- The session file:
.ptx(Pro Tools 10 to 2026),.ptf(Pro Tools 7 to 9) or.pts(Pro Tools 5 and 6), from a Mac or a Windows PC. It is small, usually under a few megabytes. - Or the whole session folder as a
.zip, with its Audio Files folder. Then every audio file the session uses is looked up in the ZIP, missing ones are listed, and you also get the REAPER project packed with its audio and one rendered WAV file per track.
If the folder holds several sessions or a Session File Backups folder, the main session (the one named like its folder) is read and the others are listed.
What you get
- A REAPER project (
.RPP) with the tracks in order, their names, colours and folders, every clip as an item with its fades, crossfades and mute, MIDI clips as MIDI items, markers and selections as markers and regions, the tempo and meter map and the session start time. Track comments and plug-in names are in the project notes. Save it in the session folder and REAPER finds the audio. - XML for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve (Final Cut Pro 7 XML) with crossfades as audio transitions, and the fades.
- FCPXML for Logic Pro (File > Import > Final Cut Pro XML), which DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro open too, with every clip at its exact position.
- An OpenTimelineIO file (
.otio) and CMX 3600 EDLs, one per track, with clip and file names and the source timecode of every clip. - A MIDI file with the notes of every MIDI and instrument track, the tempo, meter and key changes and the markers.
- Track audio: with a ZIP of the session folder, every track rendered to one WAV file with its clips, fades and crossfades, all starting at the same point, for Ableton Live, Studio One, Cubase, FL Studio or any other program that has no way to import a session.
- Lists as Excel and CSV: tracks, clips with start, end and source timecode, audio files with their paths, markers, plug-ins per track, tempo and meter. A text file in the layout of Pro Tools' Export Session Info as Text, for tools that read that.
- A session report to read or send, a picture of the timeline and the audio file list.
What comes across
Track order, names, kinds (audio, MIDI, instrument, aux, master, VCA, folder, video), channel formats (mono, stereo, LCR, 5.1, 7.1, 7.1.4), colours, comments, hidden and inactive tracks, folder tracks and the tracks inside them. Clip positions to the sample, offsets into the audio files, clip names, channels of multichannel files, stereo and surround tracks made of mono files, muted clips, stacked clips (only the part Pro Tools plays), fade ins, fade outs and crossfades with their lengths, clip groups (opened up into their clips, nested ones too), clips on tracks in ticks time, memory locations with their comments, the tempo, meter and key maps, the session start timecode, frame rate, sample rate and bit depth.
What doesn't
Clip gain, volume, pan and mute automation, plug-in settings, sends and routing. Plug-ins are listed by name for every track, so you can set them up again. Fade shapes use the target program's own curve. Alternate playlists are listed, not exported.
Finding the audio
The session file only describes the edit; the audio stays in the session's Audio Files folder. The REAPER project points at it with paths relative to the session folder. The XML, FCPXML and OTIO files point where the audio was on the computer that saved the session; if it is somewhere else now, enter the session folder's path under "Session folder on your computer" and they point there. The audio file list shows every file the session needs, with the path it had when the session was saved.
Privacy
Results are deleted automatically after 30 minutes, or straight away with "Delete now".